Together
by Lovely SOS
Summary: Dan hasn't seen Natalie since she was first taken as a Vesper hostage. She's safe at home now after the Vesper bust, but she won't let anyone see her besides Ian and Amy. Rumors are circulating about Natalie Kabra- why won't she come out of her room? Dan finally can't stand waiting anymore, and he goes to see her himself. {Two-shot}
1. Part 1

**A/N**

_(_**Please read**_!)_

_Here it is, the long awaited Natan two-shot._

_Takes place AFTER the hostages have been set free/Vespers defeated. IF YOU LIKE THIS: Would you be interested in me writing a sequel one-shot type thing? It would actually revolve around Ian and Amy during this time, then. Also, I've never really written anything like this before, so I'd appreciate you telling me what you think of it. Thanks!_

_Enjoy, and please _**review**_! :D_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the 39 Clues. If I did there would be much more of this beautiful ship called NATAN._

PART ONE (1)

Dan wondered exactly when he'd started to really care about Natalie Kabra.

He decided it had been close to the end of the Vesper period- in that time, he came to miss each person who was gone quite intensely, and quite in different ways for each of them. Specifically and individually.

For Natalie, he was coming to realize that she meant more to him than he'd ever wanted to admit before.

Because once, a while ago, Dan's own family had been his enemies. So many people had been broken in that time, the Cahill family pitted against each other. But in the end, they'd all mostly healed, the family becoming rooted and joining together peacefully as Cahills and as Madrigals.

But even after the Clue Hunt, Dan and Natalie constantly bickered.

Natalie and Ian were around a lot to fight with Dan and Amy. Dan and Natalie had been by far the worst, though, disagreeing on nearly everything and able to find fault in everything the other person did. When Natalie was suddenly gone, taken as a hostage with the others, Dan had felt a growing sense of something missing from his life. And not really just someone to argue with.

Now Natalie was back again, and he hadn't really seen her in over a month.

Because, yeah- this group of totally evil bad guys had captured different members of Dan and Amy's family and threatened their safety if Dan and Amy didn't do what they wanted. In the end, the Cahills had stopped the Vespers in the nick of time, though sadly, not without losing one of the family members that had been taken hostage- Uncle Alistair Oh.

But as life pressed on, all the Cahills agreed that Alistair's memory would not be forgotten. In the end, he'd been a good guy and a hero, and his last words had given hope to the other hostages when there had been none before.

They'd also lost Sinead Starling, though not to death- to the bad guys. The other side. Her whereabouts were currently unknown, but Dan didn't think she'd ever have the nerve to try to come back. She wouldn't be very welcome. Now no one ever spoke her name- not even her brothers. Dan only felt sad now when he thought of Sinead, because she'd once been a good person. He figured that she'd done everything out of grief.

She never really had forgiven anyone from the Clue Hunt.

But after the busting-out-and-saving the hostages, in this more present time, as well as taking down the Vesper's machine that was supposedly going to destroy the world, the Vespers were lying low. Dan doubted they'd be out forever, but at the same time, if they were to come back, they would want to come back as strong or stronger than they had ever been.

And for that, they needed time.

So now was a time of recovering and peace, like there had been after the Clue Hunt. Dan was hopeful that this time, the peaceful period would last even longer than the last had, because this time, there was so much healing that needed to be done.

Natalie was literally there, in the house. Recovering. But he wasn't allowed to see her, and he hadn't been since a month ago, when everyone had gone home. Because he was told that Natalie didn't _want_ to see anyone. The only person she really permitted to see her was her brother, Ian, and sometimes Amy.

With every passing day, Dan was becoming more antsy. There were rumors. That Natalie was... Traumatized. That thought made Dan sick- even with the Vespers out of their lives now, they had still left some scars that might be so deep they'd never really heal. With every day that passed he wondered about Natalie more and more.

* * *

Today, he'd finally just gone to see her.

He knew what room she was in, and like everyone else except for Ian and sorta kinda Amy, he was not allowed to go in there. It was restricted. Even as he'd opened that door to the room, he'd felt chills crawling up his arms.

He saw her.

She was sitting up in a bed, blankets pulled up to her waist. She looked like she was meditating, her eyes closed- but when she heard the sounds of Dan entering, her eyes snapped open, and Dan felt the impact of seeing her hit him hard in the stomach.

There were slight bags under her eyes, and her eyes- God, her eyes. They had always been so beautiful, that dark amber color, but now they were puffy and rimmed with red. She wore no makeup and no earrings. She appeared to be wearing an old t-shirt of Amy's, and there was a tray on the nightstand next to her full of uneaten food. Her hair was un-styled, simply pushed back behind her ears. She'd lost a lot of weight, swimming skinny in Amy's shirt.

But somehow, after not really getting to see her in all that time, she looked the most pretty that he'd ever seen her. She was perfect, just a little damaged. All she needed was some time to heal.

He immediately felt bad about coming in uninvited.

Natalie looked shocked for a moment that he was Dan, and not Ian, or even Amy.

The red around her eyes, even after nearly a month of being free and not a hostage made Dan want to throw up. No matter the person she'd used to be- no one deserved to be tortured and confined as a hostage, and then suffer trauma from it that kept her locked in a room even though she was now free.

Was she really traumatized?

He stared at her.

"Why are you here?" Natalie snapped, her arms crossing over herself protectively, but her voice didn't match her expression. Her eyes were wide, and filled with the flicker of fear. Dan felt his heart dropping in his chest.

He was torn. He wanted to leave; he felt so bad about coming in here. But he also wanted to sit down and TALK to her. (Even though he couldn't get his vocal cords to work to answer her.)

The latter side of him won out. He hadn't been around her for so long.

He carefully walked closer, and sat down on the edge of the bed, his eyes searching hers. For once, she couldn't hold his stare and she looked away, her eyes filling with tears, no trace of fight in her, it seemed. "There's a reason I didn't want anyone in here, you know," she said softly, her arms still crossed.

"I'm sorry," Dan murmured, his voice sounding weird when he finally got it to work. He hadn't seen her except the glimpses he'd seen when the Cahills had rescued the hostages. Then Natalie had been taken to the hospital, and then to here, to hide away in this room.

And the last time he'd seen her before that, they'd been having an argument. It was probably over something stupid. Dan couldn't even remember what it was they had been arguing about.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay," Dan said, trying to fill the silence. He felt like he was falling into a pit- he was feeling more and more like he was intruding upon her quiet recovery. It was as if their personalities had been sucked out by the sheer atmosphere in the room- he felt insignificant, and that he was an annoyance. He didn't feel like he'd ever laugh again. "Nobody ever talks about you. Not even Ian and Amy. But... We all want to," Dan said, his voice still sounding kind of rough.

He knew he was not the only one wondering where Natalie was.

"I suppose you all think I'm crazy," Natalie whispered, still looking away from him. Dan stiffened, feeling more like himself suddenly, his personality flooding back. If he and anyone else allowed themselves to become deteriorated, that was still the Vespers winning, even now.

"We don't think you're crazy. We all miss you."

"Hah," Natalie said bitterly, "I doubt any of you actually miss me."

Without missing a beat, though his heart hammered in his chest, Dan replied calmly, "I do. And I have. Ever since the Vespers took you." He realized in that moment just how much he meant what he said. He sighed. "It's no fun arguing with anyone anymore. Not even Ian."

Natalie's eyes finally met Dan's again, and the intensity in her gaze made his stomach twist. There was a nasty scratch above her left eyebrow that he hadn't even noticed before, it being obscured by her hair. There was also still bruises and cuts peppering her arms from being held captive, and then from being broken out. Dan realized with a start that her fingernails, which used to be so perfectly pampered, were all chewed down to ragged ends.

"Do you know why I stay in here?" Natalie asked, her voice so dead serious it could have made flowers keel. Dan flinched under her intense gaze.

"No."

"Because I don't want anyone to see me... Like this," she whispered, her eyes finally softening.

And Dan knew that for once, she didn't just mean her appearance (though he supposed that was part of it.)

She was not herself right now. She'd seemed detached, distant, except for the hard edge in her voice. But now she looked like someone who needed to feel the presence of another human. Someone who understood her.

He thought he might understand her. Or he wanted to. He would try.

His whole life, Dan didn't think he'd actually ever seen her look like this. The need in her eyes was unquestionable. She needed people who cared about her, and yet, she was keeping herself locked in this room. And she just looked so human now, full of flaws and emotions, like everyone else. Because the defiant side of her said she didn't need anyone, and so she'd stayed here, on strike with herself. At war.

Her eyes were still shining with tears, and they finally began their gentle cascade down her cheeks.

Before he even really knew what he was doing, he leaned in close to her and looped his arms around her, careful not to hold on too tight, because she was still looking a bit battered from her captivity.

She was not stiff, or contained, and she did not push him away, as he guessed she would once he realized that he was holding her. She had been stiff and an un-open book for far too long. Instead, she grabbed onto him and even as his arms were light around her, her arms were tight around him, her fingers grabbing his t-shirt and curling around it. She began to sob quietly, pent up emotions spilling out of her. She was shaking like a leaf.

Dan was in shock. He hadn't been expecting any of this. He didn't know what he'd thought before, what he'd expected to happen when he saw her, but it just... Wasn't this.

He supposed Ian's periodical visits and Amy's random ones weren't just to bring Natalie food as everyone else had just assumed. Ian and Amy must have been trying to coax Natalie out of the one kind of prison that she was still in- Dan supposed that they had been trying to get her to cope with everything, and she'd been more or less unresponsive, stubbornly refusing their help. Refusing the fact that she needed to know there was someone who cared about her, because she'd been struggling on her own for so long.

Dan felt strangely honored that she had accepted help in this way from him.

He briefly wondered why, but then he realized that he didn't really care. Because he was finally WITH her again. She was back. She was safe from the Vespers.

They all were.

Natalie relaxed a little now, still crying but less so. Dan remembered something he'd learned in one of Amy's many seminar thingies that she set up for the Cahills so that they could know everything they could about things that might come in handy. One of those seminars had been about dealing with people who were in shock, trauma, stress, having a panic attack, and stuff like that.

If someone having a breakdown had openly accepted your help, and they _wanted_ you to be there, (if they didn't, you were supposed to stay nearby but give them as much space as you could) then it was okay to be physically close to the person. Dan didn't move away or anything, because he could feel her needing someone to hold onto in the way that she was holding onto him. He swayed slightly, gently rocking them.

He let out a pent up breath slowly, trying to organize his jumbled thoughts. "It'll be okay," he promised her quietly. "You can stay in here as long as you need to, but... When you're ready to come out, we're all waiting for you."

Natalie pulled away for a moment. Not completely, but enough to look into his eyes. Being so close to her was making Dan's heart feel all weird, and she studied him intently, uncurling a hand from his shirt to wipe away her tears. She sniffled, then sighed, relaxing a little more. For a moment, she looked a little more like the Natalie he was used to.

"Thank you," Natalie said, still sniffling. Dan felt awkward, and he didn't really want her to start crying again. He felt unsure of what you were really supposed to do when a girl had just been crying all over you. So he just carefully reached up and brushed a strand of dark hair out of her face, then tucked it behind her ear, still hoping she wouldn't randomly, like, punch him in the face for touching her.

"You're welcome," he said, the words hanging in the air. A second or two passed in quiet, and then Natalie, surprisingly, moved in, closing the space between them and wrapping her arms around him. Dan felt his eyes snap open wide and he froze, like a deer in the headlights. Natalie sighed deeply, snuggling a little closer to him. Dan forgot to breath for, like, 45 seconds. Then he slowly wrapped his arms around her, too.

She wasn't crying anymore, and yet, she was still so close. She smelled sweet, like some flower-or-other he'd smelled before, but he couldn't remember exactly which. He felt like the room was spinning a little bit.

He sighed into her long black hair, a mild conflict going on inside of him between confusion and contentment. For the second time that day, the latter option won out, and he allowed himself to be completely relaxed, just content with being here with her now that she was safe.

It could have been an eternity that they sat like that, or it could have been a few seconds. Dan would never know. But suddenly the door of the room opened, and Ian Kabra walked in.

Dan stood up abruptly, detaching himself from her, his eyes wide. Natalie sank back into her former position. Dan felt his chest tightening.

Ian looked shocked to see Dan in there. But he was a quick-to-react kind of guy, and his face conformed to a sneer, his eyes hard. "What are you doing here?" He snapped, fire flickering in his gaze. He looked at Dan with such hostility that Dan thought the Kabra was going to make his way over to stab Dan in the throat.

"Sorry," Dan said, his voice hardly above a whisper. He turned to leave, but he didn't want to. Why should he? Just because Ian said so? But then again, maybe Ian knew best... Dan hesitated, turning back to Natalie. If he was going to leave, he'd at least say goodbye. So he did, ignoring Ian's accusatory glare and crossed arms. "Can I come back and see you soon?" Dan asked softly.

Natalie looked up at him, her eyes looking a little more familiar now. Still so red- but just... More like her. She looked hesitant for a moment, then she nodded. Either no sound left her mouth or it was too quiet for him to hear, but he saw her lips moving to form the word 'Please.'

Feeling like he was being ripped away from her, Dan walked away, passing Ian cautiously, though he did match his gaze. To Dan, Ian's eyes looked full of hatred towards him. I didn't do anything wrong, Dan thought defensively. Or maybe he had; but he had high hopes now that Natalie would stop being so locked-in.

Maybe she'd soon come outside for a breather.

As Dan left, he saw Ian resume the position he himself had formerly been in. Natalie said something that, again, was too quiet for Dan to hear, but he peeked into the doorway and he saw Ian look surprised; then a huge smile broke out across his face, and he hugged his sister.

Dan felt jealous.

Walking down the hallway and putting distance between himself and her, he sighed. I'll go see Amy, he thought. She might want to know that Natalie's getting better.

Despite in his opinion hardly having spent enough time with her, that thought made him smile as widely as Ian had a moment ago.

Natalie was getting better.

{To Be Continued}

_A/N_

_I hope you enjoyed the first half, and keep your eyes peeled for the second half, which is coming soon. Please review and tell me what you thought!_

_In other news, I have posted a one-shot/contest, so if you haven't checked that out yet, please do :)_

_And Happy Valentine's Day!_

_~Lovely_


	2. Part 2

**A/N**

_I said I'd be away for the weekend... But I guess I'm back now. Lol_

_Thank you so much to all the reviewers! I am interested in doing a spin-off two shot of this that focuses on Ian and Amy during this time. If you didn't give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down last time, let me know if you think that's a good idea, okay? :)_

_Please _**review**_, and thank you!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues. I'm really hungry right now... I think I'm going to go eat some soup._

PART TWO (2)

2 months passed as slowly as a turtle crosses a road.

2 months; that mean it had been about 4, then, since taking down the Vespers.

And Dan Cahill had fallen for Natalie Kabra.

There more differences between the two of them than Saladin had whiskers. They were very opposite, Dan thought- if they were foods she'd be caviar and Dan would be one of Uncle Alistair's brand burritos.

_She_ was absolutely stunning. He wasn't exactly bad looking himself, but... Dan supposed he had that whole mischievous-smile thing going for him, and his eyes were just like his sister Amy's, and according to other people, they were a nice shade of jade green. He had dark blond hair that was bordering on being brown, and he was kind of on the smaller side, but he'd recently had a growth spurt.

He was alright looking, but his looks just didn't equate to hers. He was 'eh' and she was perfect, with her long, black hair and her perfect skin and her gorgeous eyes.

None of that stuff about looks mattered to Dan, though. He didn't need to be Natalie's equal. All he wanted was for her to be safe and healed and happy. He didn't need for her to love him. He just wanted her to be... Okay.

She was making excellent progress.

Ever since that day he'd visited her for the first time after the Vespers period, she'd been getting better. She walked freely around Grace's mansion now, instead of staying in her room. Though she hardly ever left the house- that was Dan's current project. Getting her accustomed to the world again.

She seemed to have trouble fitting in with other people. Or she felt that she did. And he knew it. She was mostly over her trauma, now, but certain words or memories could send her off the edge again at times, upsetting her so deeply it could take more than a day for the effects of the panic and shock to wear off.

He never left her side.

Well, he did sometimes. But he never wanted to. Ever since that day he'd visited her in her room, he felt overly protective of her. He didn't like it when Ian or Amy watched over her instead of him doing it- the three of them had an unspoken agreement not to let Natalie be alone, in case she needed help with something or slipped into a state of panic.

But Natalie loved her brother, and she was starting to love Amy, too. She wanted to be with them sometimes. It made Dan feel grumpy and irritated and irrationally jealous, especially when Amy spent time with Natalie, because they were becoming such close friends as Natalie healed.

But he was being silly. Because he knew that she seemed to want him more than anyone else when she was upset; and more than once she'd fallen asleep in a similar position to the one she'd been in that first day, curled up against him, shaking hands clutching his shirt just for something to hold on to. Dan felt like Ian hated him because of this; it was hard enough for Ian to care about anyone, Dan thought, so he must hate Natalie spending so much time with Dan.

Thinking that made letting Natalie go sometimes easier.

But he really was possessive over her. Too much, probably. It was bad- she was a person, not an object to be fought over, some prize to be won- even in her current state. She didn't belong to anyone; Dan just wanted to be the one to take care of her. So that he could be sure the job was done right.

He was constantly at her side, whenever he could be, his fingers twined with hers, or standing so that their shoulders brushed. At the end of every day, he always came to tell her goodnight, and he'd try to make her laugh and he wouldn't leave until he'd done so. When she finally had- she was a tough nut to crack sometimes- he would carefully kiss the top of her head and leave. Whenever her nightmares caught up with her, she cried and he was simply _there _with her, just so that she would know she was not alone.

They were mostly inseparable, almost constantly together. As time went by Cahill cousins came and passed them, but no one ever said a word about the two of them. They didn't have the heart- why would anyone interrupt them, or be so cruel as to tease them when she was crying, stuck in some memory, and he was just trying to do his best to help her?

Besides, they were just friends.

That's what Dan said. The subject never came up, but he said it aloud anyway, sometimes. He wanted it to be clear. Because when they were alone, that's what Natalie said sometimes. That they were friends. And he was so glad to be her friend and surely didn't want to take it for granted, and he wanted it to be evident- no matter how much time they spent together, they were only friends if that's what Natalie said they were.

No one ever tried to say otherwise.

Amy had begun a daily routine of encouraging Dan to go out and do things- she said that Dan was turning Natalie's 'situation' into something that was too time consuming for him and therefore, unhealthy. She said that he needed fresh air, too.

He didn't exactly care.

Natalie was getting better and he was helping her.

* * *

It had been 2 months and 2 weeks exactly since the Vespers were taken down, and today, Dan Cahill was in a very good mood.

Hamilton Holt had come over to hang out, and they'd gone bowling. At first it hadn't been quite so fun to get creamed by a Tomas, but Dan had persuaded Hamilton to give him a few tips, and a few strikes and some nachos later, they were both golden. (And Dan was also now convinced that Hamilton was the only human alive who could manage to split apart a bowling ball. Even if it had been an accident.)

Dan checked his watch. It was now 4:22 PM. He'd been out all day with Hamilton.

Walking into the house through the front door, he saw Amy trying to get a head start on making dinner. Nellie had been away this week at a cooking convention in Nevada, and she'd left Amy with the task of cooking for the family. Dan found this rather unfortunate, because Amy was proving to be a terrible chef. At least Nellie would be home soon to put them all out of their misery. Sometimes Nellie's dishes were kinda weird, but they usually tasted really good.

"Whatcha cooking?" Dan asked, popping up beside Amy. He was trying not to be too mean about Amy's cooking because everyone else was giving her a hard enough time. (Though it really was hard not to make fun of her cooking. It really was awful...)

Amy stared down at a pan she was holding that contained something that looked rather black and charred. "It was going to be turkey." She said sadly. With a sigh, Amy set down the pan and took off her oven mitts. "How was bowling?"

"It was fun," Dan said, shrugging. "I got creamed. But yeah, fun." There was a moment of quiet as Amy continued to stare at her black turkey, as if her gaze might help revive it. "...I don't think there's any hope for that." Dan suggested, trying hard not to laugh. Amy looked relieved at his confirmation.

Sliding the entire contents of the pan into the trash, Amy's reply to Dan was a simple, "I think Natalie's upstairs."

Brightening at her name, Dan ran off, excited as usual to see her. He'd just been thinking earlier of how hilarious it might be to try and teach Natalie how to use his old Pokemon game cards. Natalie was indeed upstairs, playing chess with her brother. Dan saw them through the doorway, but he held back for a moment. Ian and Natalie seemed to be in the final stages of the game.

Dan could feel the tension between them and they both stared at the board. They were utterly silent for a moment before Natalie made a move and declared, "Check mate."

"Ugh," Ian muttered. He crossed his arms, looking displeased. Natalie laughed her beautiful laugh, and it made Dan smile. She had come so far...

"I win!" Natalie said triumphantly. "There's nothing you can do." She swept her long hair over her shoulder. "Oh, don't look so pouty, Ian. It's not as if you didn't beat me last time- and the time before that." At her words, Ian laughed, too, looking at ease with just his sister around. Well, and Dan hiding behind the door. But whatever.

He decided he might make his entrance now.

"Hi," Dan said, walking in. He couldn't help but smile when his gaze met Natalie's. It felt very much like it was only them in the room for a moment. But Ian ruined it with his loud sigh and eye roll.

"I'm going to go make sure Amy doesn't set fire to the house." Ian announced. He crossed to the other side of the table, though, and gave Natalie a short hug. "Rematch," he said insistently to her. "Later. After dinner. I can promise that you won't win again." Ian left, and Natalie yelled after him, her hands cupped around her mouth,

"I beat you once, and I _will_ do it again!" She rolled her eyes and turned to Dan, a magnificent smile growing on her face. "Hello." She said.

Dan grinned too, but as usual, his grin was big and goofy and much less elegant than hers. As was customary now he simply walked over to her and gathered her in his arms; and as usual he didn't take a moment of it for granted, his heart beating as quickly now as it had the first time.

"How was your day?" He asked her, his words slightly muffled in her hair. Her reply back to him was muffled as well through his t-shirt.

"It was fine. Though I am glad you came in here just as I beat Ian, because he can be such a sore loser." She drew away from him, still smiling slightly. "How was your day?"

Dan shrugged. "It was alright. But it's better now," he said, grinning. Natalie rolled her eyes at his cheesiness, but her smile slowly dissolved, making her look much more serious.

"Dan, I was thinking." She said, her calm and sudden tone changing the atmosphere in the room. Dan frowned.

"About what?"

Natalie took his hand. "I want to go outside." Her words surprised him. For so long she'd been denying his suggestions of doing just that, but even as he thought back on that now, he knew she was ready. She sighed. "I'm tired of being looked at as fragile. I'm tired of being watched over constantly, even though I do like attention." Her eyes met his. "I'm ready to be ME again."

Dan was stunned. "Nobody is watching over you constantly," he lied, and it didn't sound the least bit convincing. She rolled her eyes again.

"I know you guys are. You're practically on a shift. You know I can do _some_ things myself, don't you?" She said, irritation creeping into her voice. Dan was absolutely thrilled that she seemed to be up for a fight- and yet at the same time, her fingers were still twined in his.

"But you're not completely better yet," he reminded her. "You need us."

"Not to stand outside of my bathroom door!" Natalie burst. "You guys make things SO weird. I CAN go to the bathroom myself you know!" She sounded so serious, but...

They both burst out laughing.

"Sorry," Dan murmured when he was done, the laughter dying down in the back of his throat. "I just like being with you." He pulled her in close to him a second time, and she still smelled like flowers, though he had given up trying to guess which one. She just smelled like Natalie now.

"I like being with you, too." She said with a sigh. Her words filled him with happiness. Much too quickly for his liking, though, she pulled away, looking edgily impatient. "Shall we go outside?"

"Yes," Dan responded.

The two of them bounded downstairs. Well, Dan did. Natalie walked. But there was still excitement making her feet go a little quicker than usual. Pride blossomed in Dan's chest. Natalie was ready to go outside. She was almost better. Maybe with these steps outside, she'd be _all_ better. He hoped so.

He opened the front door.

Outside, the night air was pleasantly cool. Dan felt like it was inviting him to go outside- especially because he could hear Amy and Ian yelling in the kitchen, bickering. Dan ran back to the foot of the stairs for Natalie, who had stopped there quite suddenly, her eyes wide. She was frozen.

Dan felt disappointment replacing his happiness. "You don't have to go," he told her gently. "If you're not ready." And there was a pause; but his spirits lifted when she shook her head vigorously, disagreeing with his words.

"We're going outside." She assured him, her momentary undecided-ness gone. She sucked in a deep breath, then linked her arm with his and walked slowly to the door. "I haven't been outside in so long," she murmured. Dan kept pace with her but fell in slightly behind her. He felt that she wanted him there, but that she wanted to do this in a way that she'd feel in control.

They were outside.

Natalie shook Dan's arm off- even though she'd grabbed it in the first place- and with wide eyes, she ran to the porch railing. She gripped in in her fingers, her gaze taking in everything, and her lungs taking in the fresh air that Dan knew she'd missed but been depriving herself of.

Dan walked to join her, secretly admiring how she looked in the light of the moon. She was so much healthier now than she had been 2 months ago. Her hair had returned to its usual shiny state and her eyes were growing brighter every day, which was one of his favorite things about her getting better. She was herself now, not a shell of a person, destroyed by the Vespers. She was Natalie Kabra, and she was becoming new and improved.

"Why did I take so long to come out here?" Natalie asked quietly, but there was an undertone of pure happiness in her voice. Then it seemed to take on a hint of wistfulness. "I missed the moon." She sighed. "And now I can't wait to see the sun."

"Right," Dan muttered, barely listening. He imagined the moonlight was getting caught in her long, dark eyelashes. Suddenly, Natalie grabbed his hand and pulled him down the front steps until they stood on the driveway. She craned her neck upwards, trying to see as many stars as she could at once. She laughed and he did, too. "Let's lie down in the grass," Dan suggested. "Then you'll be able to see all the stars."

Natalie wrinkled her button nose. "The grass?" She asked skeptically. Dan laughed. That was so _like_ her. Even after hardly seeing a blade of grass at all for 2 months.

"Come on."

He picked a spot on the hillside next to the house. He'd sat in this spot on many night since the Vesper ordeal, but he was always alone- not this time, though. He had Natalie. And he found he preferred having her there than being there alone quite strongly. He beckoned for her to come and she did, still looking a bit sour at the idea of lying down on the ground. But once she joined him, he knew she was just being dramatic; he could see her swirling her fingers through the grass.

They both laid down and looked upwards.

Natalie looked at the stars for a while, and so did Dan. But his gaze switched to being on her rather than the sky. As if someone had said something about it- though neither of them really had said a word- their fingers met as they so often did now. Dan felt the usual thrilling sensation of tingles running through his body at her touch.

"Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think the Vespers will come back?"

A knot formed in his throat at her question. He wished she hadn't asked it. He sighed, slowly releasing as much pressure from inside of him as he could. "I don't know, Natalie." He answered truthfully. "Maybe... Maybe one day." Dan hated the emotion surfacing in his voice. "But we'll be ready if they come back. I swear."

For a moment Natalie said nothing, and he was close enough to hear the light sound of her breathing. "_I'll_ be ready if they come back." She said quietly, finally. "I'm never going back to who they made me become. Never. I don't want to be weak anymore." She sighed.

"You're not weak." Dan replied, his voice wavering. "You never were. All of you guys who were taken hostage- you all got tortured." Even now, anger crept into his voice. "The Vespers aren't even human, Natalie. You're not weak- they're just monsters."

It was true. To some extent, everyone taken hostage had had some healing to do. Natalie had gotten the worst case of trauma, but second most was Phoenix Wizard, who had been the youngest to be taken hostage. Phoenix often had vivid nightmares. Still, Dan didn't think that meant any of the Cahills were _weak_. That would not be a fair word to describe them with, considering what they had been through. What they all had been through...

Natalie just sighed and wriggled closer to him, resting her head against his chest.

"I have another question." She declared.

"And that would be...?" He asked, liking their closeness.

"Do you tell people that we're... Friends?" She asked.

This question took Dan by surprise. He hadn't really been expecting what she might say, but whatever he'd been thinking he just hadn't thought she'd ask him that. The words 'friends' felt good in so many ways, but stung in so many other ways. JUST friends. As GREAT as that was... He loved her, and she needed him- but not in that way. He didn't think so. Worry clogged his throat for a moment. What if she thought he'd been telling people they were more than friends? He didn't want her to think he'd been spreading lies about them.

"I do," he said awkwardly, finding his voice.

"Why?" Natalie asked him, and there was some emotion in her voice that he didn't understand. He took a moment- again- to answer her, searching for the right words.

"Because we are," he said carefully. "That's what you say we are. I don't want anyone assuming anything that's not at all true."

Natalie drew away from him slightly and now he could see her eyes. He stiffened, and she said, "I don't say that anymore, Dan." She said, a sad light touching her eyes. Did I do something wrong? He wanted to ask, but his throat was reverting back to that horrible clogged feeling. Instead, he choked out,

"What are you talking about?"

Natalie sighed dramatically. With her hand not in his she reached up to fix his hair, which was a pursuit they both knew was pointless. His hair would eternally be messed up. Forever. When Natalie spoke again, her voice was impatient. "We haven't been friends for a long time, Dan. Why are you so slow?"

Dan was confused, or as she said, 'slow'. Was she saying she didn't want to be friends? "I'm sorry," he blurted. "Whatever I did. Did I mess everything up?" Natalie laughed, and her laugh made him frown. It was a laugh that he hadn't heard for a while. It was an I'm-superior-to-you kind of laugh. "Can you tell me what you mean?" He asked grumpily.

Natalie rolled her eyes. "I mean _this_."

And she kissed him.

Shock flooded through him, all the way down to his toes. For a moment he was completely unresponsive, unused to this feeling, like electricity. His eyes were open completely wide, but they slowly closed, and his shock wore off a little bit, replaced with excitement, and he began to kiss her back. I, Dan Cahill, he thought proudly, am kissing Natalie Kabra.

Natalie ended the kiss, like, WAY too soon. Actually, Dan had no idea how long it had been. All he knew what that it was too short.

"Woah," he whispered.

Natalie snuggled up to him, whispering in his ear, "You are _such_ an idiot._ I_ had to kiss you first."

Dan laughed, still almost disbelieving of this. Natalie Kabra did not want to be friends. She wanted to be more than friends. And in that moment he was hit so hard with his own feelings of wanting to be more than friends, too- the feelings he'd been trying to shove down and away as Natalie healed, because they had seemed so selfish and so wrong.

"Sorry," he whispered, unable to keep a huge grin off of his face. He wanted to kiss her again, badly- and _he_ wanted to kiss _her_ this time. But she curled up next to him and she closed her eyes, simply being with him, as she had been so many times before. She looked tired. She didn't look ready for another kiss. So he didn't kiss her and instead just took in the feeling of being there with her, as he had done so many times before- still not taking any second for granted. Because now he knew what it felt like when she was gone.

And he still felt like he had to make up for all that time with her that he'd lost.

The two of them stayed that way, quiet and together. They didn't move a muscle, not even when Ian and Amy's bickering grew so loud that Dan and Natalie could hear it. And they didn't even move when Ian threw open the kitchen window and chucked Amy's backup turkey out of it.

This, Dan thought, Natalie's head resting against his chest, has been the greatest day ever.

{The End}

_A/N_

_I really hoped you liked that! I tried my best to keep things as IC as I could, because I know that's one of the things you readers like best._

_Once again, I am hosting a contest, so if you like those kinds of things check that out on my profile._

_Thanks so much for reading, I really hope you liked it!_

_~Lovely_


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